Complicated answer. People deserve some pain so they can learn to recalibrate their excessive spending/lack of saving, but that's something you either "get" or you don't. The only way to teach people en-masse is to inflict pain they cannot control. Western society has been sadly programmed to spend, not save, as it drives our economic "growth".. I don't see that changing anytime soon, the only thing that can taper off spending is higher rates. The fact is the future looks like our society is going to be in serious debt with less social security nets than we have now - and if people don't get their financial houses in order by savings/investing, they'll all be eating dog food in retirement. The big problem with that idea though is that it goes against pretty much everything we're programmed to believe makes a happy life - which in fact is the total opposite of what DOES make a happy life.
Indeed. I'm wondering where this is heading when we have the introduction of property taxes on ones PPR, capital gains on ones PPR and death taxes. Not to mention additional road taxes on distance driven and huge hikes in "rates". One economic metric I've never been able to understand is how basic infrastructure such as roads, sewerage, water supplies, train and tram networks, bridges etc were mostly built in the 1900s without massive increases in taxes, or debt. Can anyone explain this?
It's not heading for a good place. None of this would be required if people were a little less greedy, spent a little less and saved a little more. 10 years ago I lived that life (over consumption) and finally woke up to the stupidity of it. My quality of life and financial position has improved considerably since then, and I suspect most other people's would as well. We need a bit more financial conservatism around the place... I know that might sound crazy on a F car forum, but the fact I own one of these cars is completely down to decisions I made 10 years ago..
By in large, private companies built them and charged tolls for using them... Not entirely sure I agree with this strategy (in WA the idea would be shot down in a minute), but there you go....
Yes, they either worked or they starved. These days everybody is a victim in this woke world, you can't say "Get off your fat arse and get on with it you lazy slob" or you'll have the the single unmarried indigenous lesbian puppet workshop society on your facebook page berating you. Concreter's are on $800/day!! Brickies are being paid by the brick! Don't worry about seeing your dentist if you have a problem go and see your concreter or Con Creature for advice. There has to be a reconciliation.
Things are definitely out of control and something is going give soon. I’m looking forward to eating 2 minute noodles for the next 10 years or so.
Easier to be a victim and get paid benefits than lay bricks by the dollar. That's the sad truth of our (unsustainable) society. But yeah just blame the rich.. It's all their fault after all, right? There's too few of them to worry about offending.
Keep the F car locked away safe in the shed otherwise toothless peasants with pitchforks will be out to get ya.
Truth is governments are all about shifting blame or making things sound like they're OK. They're all as bad as each other, both the left and the right. How bad is it gonna be? Who knows, but I'd be willing to bet it's not going to be 1990 all over again and we're probably better placed than many other countries. Could have really done without that 1TN of debt though... That kinda sucks.
The only way for a country to get out of debt like that is to inflate its way out of it. My personal choice is 20% GST on everything, with no exemption. The biggest consumers will pay more tax, which should make the poor/down-trodden/entitled a bit happier
Nothing makes the downtrodden happier, they will just spin it differently.. Why should we pay tax on booze and smokes that make up 50% of our disposable income when the rich pay comparatively so little for their booze and smokes. You can't ever win the tax debate, so there's no point having it.
Not the only way... But the easy way... They can hike taxes or cut services - both of which will get them booted out of office - so inflate inflate inflate! Print them bonds fellas!!! Sell them to a Norwegian nationalised super fund that needs some AAA rated "safety" in their portfolio!
They should tax all gambling and alcohol and tobacco at an excessive rate And get rid of lct, remember it was to protect our local car industry which is long gone
We won't have a recession - they will just change the metrics or reinterpret the data and call it great economic management!
It seems there is a great demand for workers across all sectors..bringing wage increase So inflation will keep going up.. btw where did all the demands come from? where are the workers?
All must be bludging! You can’t get anyone to do anything anymore. You can’t get any Diesel Fitters in mining at the moment, so company’s are paying up to $80 p/h now and offering up to $20k sign on bonus if you stay for 12 months etc just to try and attract blokes. I made mention that when Fitters are getting paid $100 p/h within the next 10 years or so I’ll come out of retirement myself. They will be getting paid $100 p/h within the next 2 years I reckon, it’s crazy out there. I’ve had 3x Fitters hand their resignations in over the last 4 weeks and two more to come this week because they are working across town for $25k per year more and don’t have to work nightshifts anymore. The guys handing their resignations in this week are heading down SE QLD area for mining work and their wages are increasing nearly $40k pa. We used to get big money working underground where I work, but we are nearly $50k pa behind everyone else now. The last 2 years in mining, tradesman wages have skyrocketed because you can’t get anyone anymore. I think the issue is when Covid first hit and people were In lockdown and couldn’t go to work, they worked out pretty quickly that quality of life is better than FIFO mining and they tossed it in. Now the rest of the Country is paying huge money fighting to get as many Tradesman as they can get to keep their operations going. Come early December, I will have 2x 60+ year old Fitters, one Boilermaker and one Auto-electrician on my crew to try and maintain a mining fleet of 100+ trucks, loaders and everything else in between. I might have to quit, sell up and go on the dole myself.
